NYC skate godfather and Shut founder, Rodney Smith recently linked with his old friend Johnny Schillereff from Element to take part in the Element Shaper Program or ESP. The Shovelnose and Stinger are two of six Smith did for the project. RadCollector connected with him today for some words on the series.

There is a rapidly growing market for Longboards, alternative shapes and construction. This all means many different riding styles and disciplines for skaters worldwide. Johnny seemed intrigued in the position Shut is taking to meet these changes and thought to test the waters by doing a collaboration.

Read the whole conversation and check out some more pics after the jump. Rodney Smith for Element ESP is available now at select Element dealers.

Hey Rodney, can you tell us how this project came about and what the inspiration for your shapes was?

The opportunity came about after long time friend Johnny Schillereff, President and founder of Element, and I had a few conversations over the years, about the state of the current skate industry. We discussed topics that are currently re-shaping the overall participation,feel and look of the current main stream skateboard market.

There is a rapidly growing market for Longboards, alternative shapes and construction. This all means many different riding styles and disciplines for skaters worldwide. Johnny seemed intrigued in the position Shut is taking to meet these changes and thought to test the waters by doing a collaboration with me and other industry notables.

The shape inspiration came to me after Element stated they where looking for a well rounded group of board styles. I went with the Shut Skates philosophy and Elements theme for this project. The Shovel Nose theme was suggested by Element’s skate production head who skates vert and pools. He wanted a Harley Davidson motorcycle look, so I grabbed inspiration from the Harley logo. The Stinger was my inspiration that came from Santa Cruz skateboard’s early 80’s deck, The Stinger. I designed a total of 6 decks for this project.